


a story in moments

by missymeggins



Category: Castle
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-19
Updated: 2013-10-19
Packaged: 2017-12-29 20:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1009767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missymeggins/pseuds/missymeggins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>14 drabbles based on lyrics from each song on Lisa Mitchell’s album <em>Wonder</em>. They can be read as standalones or, if you squint, as a single narrative. I don’t necessarily think the songs are specifically Castle/Beckett related but they’re all beautiful and I’d been listening to them lots while writing my previous Castle fic so I guess they became Castle/Beckett by association.</p>
    </blockquote>





	a story in moments

**Author's Note:**

> 14 drabbles based on lyrics from each song on Lisa Mitchell’s album _Wonder_. They can be read as standalones or, if you squint, as a single narrative. I don’t necessarily think the songs are specifically Castle/Beckett related but they’re all beautiful and I’d been listening to them lots while writing my previous Castle fic so I guess they became Castle/Beckett by association.

_a story in moments._ **Castle** ,1400 words, Castle/Beckett, G  
  
Author’s Note: 14 drabbles based on lyrics from each song on Lisa Mitchell’s album _Wonder_. They can be read as standalones or, if you squint, as a single narrative. I don’t necessarily think the songs are specifically Castle/Beckett related but they’re all beautiful and I’d been listening to them lots while writing my previous Castle fic so I guess they became Castle/Beckett by association.  
  
  
  
  
 _ **1. It’s hard to recreate such an individual gait**  
_

He watches her as she walks away, all professional with just the tiniest swing in her hips, and her words ring in his ears.  
  
 _‘You have no idea.’_  
  
It takes him all of two seconds to realise he’s not done with her, so he makes a deal with Captain Montgomery and makes her his muse.  
  
Day in and day out she’s always a step ahead, always eager to leave him behind but he won’t let her.  
  
He has fun pushing her buttons but underneath it all he admires her professional ability.  
  
(But god he also loves the way she walks.)  
  
...  
  
  
 __ **2. Even though you’re poison babe, I wouldn’t even hesitate**  


She knows she shouldn’t go there. His reputation speaks for itself and the last thing she needs is a one night stand with a man who lives his life on page six.  
  
But even so, there’s a part of her that knows, if he _really_ made a move, she probably wouldn’t hesitate to jump him.  
  
She tells herself it’s something to do with hero worship crashing headlong into real life but, really, she knows there’s more to it than that.  
  
Beneath the playboy attitude there’s something much deeper and she sees it in his writing.  
  
(It tugs at her heart.)  
  
...  


 __ **3. Oh do you have a story, do you have a story for me? Do you know the one where we all live happily?**  
  
  
Kate Beckett doesn’t do happily ever after. Maybe once upon a time (a long, long time ago) she believed but not anymore. It’s too hard when every day she’s surrounded by death.  
  
It’s not like she dwells on it. She learnt long ago to just accept it as a reality. That’s how it goes in her profession.  
  
But Castle is just the opposite and it drives her crazy. He’s so full of optimism and hope. He says ‘until tomorrow’ and he writes happy endings like it’s the most natural thing in the world.  
  
(He makes her want to believe again.)  
  
...  


_**4. What are you doing? What are you doing to me? What are you doing to my head?**  
_

Alexis is the first to point it out.

“She’s really gotten to you, hasn’t she Dad?”

He pretends he has no idea what she’s talking about, but he can’t really deny that Kate Beckett occupies too much space in his head.

It’s not like he’s never been _preoccupied_ with a woman before. They’ve almost all ended up in one of his novels. The difference with Kate is that she’s the _entire_ novel and that is definitely new.

He tells himself it’s just professional interest; Nikki Heat is, after all, his first female lead.

(But it’s not Nikki in his dreams.)

...  
  
  
 _ **5. Pirouette, single step. Won’t you spin me around the room like a marionette?**  
_

She makes his head spin.

She tells him people don’t ever change and he takes it far more personally than he should. It shouldn’t bother him, but it does. He wants her to see that he’s not just an immature jackass.

He wants to make her see that he doesn’t care what it takes; he doesn’t care what rules he has to abide, what circles he has to jump through, just to have a chance with her. 

He has no problem letting her take the lead.

(Actually, he kind of likes the idea.)

He just wants her to see him.  
  
...  


_**6. Oh, go on and write somebody else, oh somebody else or anybody your love letter**  
_

She hates him for writing about her.

At first it was just the invasion of privacy; his annoyingly constant presence in her (work) life.

Then it was the poking and prodding, the attempts to _understand_ her; the way he talked about her and Nikki Heat as though they really were the same person.

Then it was his ex.

“He only dedicates his books to people he really cares for.”

And that should be a compliment but in truth it terrifies her. It’s like a public declaration and she’s not ready for that.

It was easier when he just annoyed her.

...  


_**7. My world ends on a regular basis  
** _

She hides it well most of the time but the truth is every murder hurts. Every drop of blood she sees seeping into the carpet of another crime scene shatters her a little bit more.

She knows he can see it. He helps put her back together in tiny ways that, when added up, don’t seem so tiny.

He brings her takeout and makes her laugh as she finishes up the paper work. He makes sure she knows that it’s never her fault; that she shouldn’t – and doesn’t have to – carry the weight of it alone.

He holds her together.  
  
...  
  
 __  
 **8. And i know it’s a fine line, but I know that I’ve got time**  


He knows it’s a line they shouldn’t cross. With four more Nikki Heat books to write, their partnership looks to be a long one and as he already knows too well, crossing the line between professional and personal is never good.

The truth is though, they’ve already done that by becoming friends and he doesn’t want to jeopardise that either.

But he knows that friendship with Kate Beckett will never be enough for him. It’s no longer just professional curiosity; material for his novels.

He wants to move beyond pulling her pigtails.

He wants _her_ and he’s willing to wait.  
  
...  
  
 __  
 **9. Oh, we’d meet there all through the night, drink and smoke and laugh and fight  
**

(He thinks, sometimes, about what it might be like if they had just met at a bar one night.  
  
She’d be wearing a sexy dress; he’d buy her a drink and charm her until they fell into bed.  
  
It would become a thing. They would meet and mostly they’d laugh but sometimes they’d fight, only it wouldn’t matter because either way the night would end with her pushing him up against a wall and claiming him for herself.  
  
But, really, he knows this is never how it would go. That’s Nikki, not Kate.  
  
And really he only wants Kate. )  
  
...  
  
 __  
 **10. If I had the chance to peer inside your mind, give up your mystery, why think twice?  
**

She can’t deny that she’s curious about him. He’s got such a well crafted public persona that sometimes it’s hard to believe there’s anything else underneath.  
  
But she knows there is and she wishes she could just dig a little deeper into it.  
  
She wanted to hit him for making up that crap about murder in his childhood. But at the same time it just made her more curious. There’s a story there and she wants to know what it is.  
  
She wants to know him.  
  
She wants to know him the way he’s managed to get to know her.  
  
...  
  
 __  
 **11. And the storm’s all through your clothes. Let the ink run down your nose**  


He laughs at her and she growls.

“What?”

“You look extremely cute right now.”

“I’m completely soaked and you think that’s _cute_?”

He steps closer to her, pushes a wet strand of hair out of her eyes, and brushes his lips against hers.

“Yes.”

He’s amazed when she doesn’t slap him and ecstatic when she kisses him back. 

He’s grinning like an idiot when she finally pulls away and he doesn’t bother trying to hide it. 

“Laugh at me again and there’ll be no more of that” she tells him with a wicked little smile. 

And that’s how they start.  
  
...  
  
  
 __ **12. Sometimes your love, it’s so quiet I don’t even need to speak. Sometimes your heart, it’s so loud I can’t even hear the beat**  
  
  
She doesn’t say the words often but that’s ok.  
  
He discovers that he doesn’t need to hear it from her. It’s quietly unspoken in the little moments she would never dare make public. It’s there in the casual way she swings her feet up into his lap after a long day; the way she’ll sometimes brush her hand through his hair when she’s distracted or smile at him when she thinks he’s not looking.  
  
But he tells _her_ as often as he can because it seems so much truer than it ever has with anyone else and he likes that.  
  
...  


_**13. When I’ve done all the things that I want to do, make sure I’m buried next to somebody I’d like to talk to.**  
_

When she thinks about it, the part that surprises her most of all is how much she likes talking to him. She would never have expected that.

It’s true that she was always secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) amused by his immature witticisms, but she never considered the possibility of being able to just _talk_ with him.

Now, it’s different. It’s not like the innuendo has stopped now they’re dating (if anything, it’s worse) but it’s not the only thing anymore.

They spend most of their evenings on his couch lazily discussing their days.

(She secretly likes the domesticity.)  
  
...  
  
  
 _ **14. You talk to me bout Friday night in hardly so many words. I’m alright.**  
_

Some cases are worse than others. Sometimes they’re bloodier, more brutal and completely senseless. Sometimes they can’t be solved.

Those cases used to hurt her in a way no one could understand. Those were the cases that sent her spiralling into the past.

He doesn’t let that happen anymore. Sometimes she’ll talk about it, but mostly she can’t find the words. It doesn’t matter though; he has his own way of healing her wounds.

He knows to just let her be.

They’ll go to bed and he’ll hold her close and she’ll whisper “thank you”.

He’s there and she’s alright.  
  
...

 

  
Song list in case anyone wants to look them up:  
  
 _Lisa Mitchell_

1. Neopolitan Dreams  
2. So Jealous  
3. Coin Laundry  
4. Clean White Love  
5. Pirouette  
6. Love Letter  
7. Oh! Hark!  
8. Red Wine Lips  
9. Sidekick  
10. Stevie  
11. Animals  
12. Valium  
13. Heroine  
14. Time Means Nothing at All


End file.
